A Curse to Others
by Child of a Pineapple
Summary: FINISHED Stanley's thoughts on Zero running away. OneShot.


Hiya! This is the second Holes fic that I, Ziggy the Paranoid Pyro, have decided to put up. Aren't you all so lucky? The other night I had the idea for this story, after reading Holes for about the billionth time. I was actually surprised after reading what I had written down, so I decided to post it just for fun.  
  
This will DEFINITELY be a one chapter thing, because I can think of no ways to continue it. I wrote it that way purposely. It's about Stanley Yelnats, and he's extremely upset after Zero runs off, and blames himself for the whole thing. It's actually rather angsty, and I wasn't totally sure about the rating, cuz I mention suicide once. Hopefully PG will be high enough; I read the rating thing on the site, and it seemed to fit that one.  
  
Oh, and before I forget, I made one reference to Stanley Yelnats Survival Guide to Camp Green Lake. It's marked like this *. There, now that's better.  
  
I own nothing Holes related, but if I could I would own Ziggy. That is, if I can't have Orlando Bloom . . . Oh! Wrong movie, sorry . . .  
  
Maybe I should just shut up now and let you read. Yes, that's a good idea. Please review after you're done, cuz I enjoy feedback.  
  
Enjoy the story!  
  
~Ziggy the Paranoid Pyro~  
  
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-A Curse to Others-  
  
Stanley lay on his cot, staring into space. He could hear Twitch wriggling about on his cot. Or maybe it was still Zero's cot. Maybe it didn't even matter.  
  
That was the answer. It didn't really matter, because nothing could change what was the awful truth. Zero, Stanley's best, first, and only friend, was gone. What was even worse was that Stanly was entirely the one to blame.  
  
Sure, it would be easy to shift the blame on to someone else. Like . . . Mr. Pendanski, for being way too hard on Zero. Or even Zigzag, who had started the fight that had taken place a few days before. It could even be blamed on all of the campers, for never finding out the Zero was a real person, not just the silent kid. If they had just tried . . .  
  
But Stanley couldn't make himself believe any of that, no matter how much effort he put into it. He had tried already, but it was all in vain. Deep down, Stanly knew that there was no one to blame but himself. Not even the family curse could serve as an excuse this time.  
  
When it all came down to it, Stanley knew that if he hadn't let Zero help with his hole, his best friend would still be here. He was so incredibly stupid to have even agreed to Zero's idea in the first place. It was just one of those common sense things; he had crossed a forbidden barrier, even while the sirens were blaring and the red lights were flashing. And because of Stanley's stupidity, Zero was rotting in the middle of a desert, where no one would ever find him.  
  
Maybe there was no curse on the Yelnats family. Perhaps, in fact, Stanley was the curse. Actually, that made so much more sense. Bad things always happened around him, and to those close to him. The world in general would probably be much better off if Stanley just ended his miserable life right then and there. It would be easy; besides, there was no one left to care.  
  
If only, If only . . .  
  
If only what? If only life didn't suck so much? If only he didn't always screw things up? If only he wasn't a curse to others?  
  
Stanley decided that he was being too negative. Instead, he tried to have a more optimistic outlook. It was possible that Zero could have lived this whole time. Maybe he had even changed his mind about leaving and would come back into camp at any moment. Or, he could have escaped back into civilization. The supply truck had come the day after he ran away. Zero could have easily snuck back and gotten on, just like Magnet had tried once.* It was all possible . . .  
  
Yeah right.  
  
It was a known fact that people don't live for as long as Zero had been gone while in the scorching desert, without any water. Zero was dead. Buzzard food.  
  
So much for optimism.  
  
The though occurred to Stanley that he was carrying on a family tradition. His great-grandfather had been a no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealer, and now he was a no-good-dirty-rotten-person. Also, he had continued the line of failures. His great-grandfather had lost his entire fortune to an extremely ticked off chick with a gun, his father couldn't invent anything that actually worked, and Stanley was a failure as a friend. But that still left his grandfather . . .  
  
Suddenly, it clicked. By being related to Stanley Yelnats IV, Stanley Yelnats II was instantly a failure. Anyone linked by blood to someone who had practically murdered their best friend had failed, even though they had done so unknowingly.  
  
Stanley paused and thought for a moment. Couldn't he only be a curse if he let himself do so? Surely, if he tried hard enough, he could change this discouraging fact. He could make everything that he had managed to screw up better. And, the best way to start would be to find Zero. It would be so easy. All he would have to do would be to sneak out away. No one would notice; no one would care.  
  
Stanley sighed and shook his head. It was probably true that he could change being a curse if he tried. Still, there was one thing essential to his plan, and it was something that he couldn't change, no matter what.  
  
It was already too late. 


End file.
